fack

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle English *fak, fec, fæc (“space, compartment”), from Old English fæc (“space of time, while, division, interval; period of five years, lustrum”), from Proto-West Germanic *fak, from Proto-Germanic *faką (“division, department, space”), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-, *paǵ- (“to fasten, fix”). Cognate with West Frisian fek, Dutch vak (“section, compartment”), German Fach (“compartment”), Swedish fack (“compartment, box, department”), Latin pangō (“fasten, fix”). Doublet of Fach.

Alternative forms

• fec (obsolete)

Noun

fack (plural facks)

1. (UK dialectal) One of the four stomachs of a ruminating animal; rumen; paunch.

Etymology 2

Verb

fack (third-person singular simple present facks, present participle facking, simple past and past participle facked)

1. (UK, Cockney, vulgar) Pronunciation spelling of fuck.

Derived terms

• fack off

Swedish

Etymology

From German Fach (“compartment, drawer”), from Proto-Germanic *faką (“division, department, space”).

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

fack n

1. a compartment, a box, a slot (often one of several)
2. a trade, a profession, a subject of expertise (seen as a compartment of the larger work life)

   Synonym: gebit

3. (informal) clipping of fackförening (“trade union, labor union”)

   Hon gick med i facket

   She joined the/a union ["gå med i facket" is often used for joining a union in general]

   Facket hotar med att ta ut 2 000 av sina medlemmar i strejk

   The union threatens to take 2,000 of its members out on strike

   2 000 fackmedlemmar är uttagna i strejk

   2,000 union members have been called out on strike [are taken out on strike]

Declension

Declension of fack

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	fack	facks
	definite	facket	fackets
plural	indefinite	fack	facks
	definite	facken	fackens

Related terms

• (compartment): bankfack, frysfack, handskfack, lönnfack, postfack
• (trade): fackansluten, fackförbund, fackförening, fackidiot, facklig, facklitteratur, fackombud, fackpamp, fackspråk

See also

• placera någon i ett fack

References

• fack in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• fack in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• fack in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)